Is your leather jacket cool enough for the ride?

Motorcycle racing is one of the coolest motor-sport in the world! Yes it is very though and dangerous but that’s why it is very exciting!! The outfit is very protective including the helmet, gloves and the special suit. What about the cool leather jacket? How did the leather motorcycle jacket become such a wardrobe staple in the riding community and in every fashion niche that exists? It’s classic, timeless, essential—and it all started in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1920’s.

Irving Schott began creating outwear for motorcyclists and in 1928, Schott released what is now universally known as the motorcycle jacket. The angle of the closure worked to block the wind and prevented the jacket from bunching up when the rider mounted his bike. He gave his creation the Perfecto label, and then????

Interestingly, it was Hollywood and the movies that made the motorcycle jacket so popular!!

The Leather Motorcycle Jacket reached iconic status with Marlon Brando and the movie “The Wild One” and where he rode 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T. The film was shortly followed by James Dean’s movie, which gave the jacket its rebellious and dangerous image!

The 60’s was a turning point for the motorcycle jacket in the US as the jacket, until then, had been worn by bikers, became a staple for the greasers, rockers, punks! And by 80’s the music industry was wearing one, like Madonna or Michael Jackson!!!

By the turn of the millennium, the biker jackets dangerous and rebellious image had changed and instead it became more of a fashion statement. Nowadays it’s difficult to walk down the street without spotting a motorcycle jacket, can be real or fake, black or tan, Topshop or Alexander McQueen.

Today we mainly see black leather motorcycle jackets as being fashionable, however they serve a much more important and practical purpose, as protective gear for motorcycle riders.